Sometimes interviews feel like an awkward first date, but with Marshall, everything just felt great, a Marshall professor said.
Shawn Schulenberg is a political science professor here at Marshall University and serves as the chair of the Marshall University Faculty Senate. Schulenberg grew up in Minnesota, received his bachelor’s degree at St. John’s University and then moved to southern California where he continued his education. Once Schulenberg finished his doctorate, he applied all over, but Marshall happened to be the one that fit.
“Finishing my Ph.D. in southern California, applied all over the place, went and interviewed at a handful of places, and everything just fit here when I came to interview,” Schulenberg said. “Interviewing at a lot of places could be like an awkward first date, and a lot of them were extremely awkward. Some of them were – I could tell that I wanted to leave halfway through the interview – other times that I could tell that they were just not interested in me as a candidate once I got there. Everything just felt so great when I went to Huntington, West Virginia.”
Schulenberg said he can’t believe everything he has here in Huntington.
“I cannot believe everything I have here, and the thought of even moving back somewhere like southern California is ridiculous to me,” Schulenberg said.
Schulenberg said even though the things he studies might be considered volatile to some, this university has been nothing but supportive of him ever since he came to Marshall in 2010.
“This place has been incredibly nurturing for me. I’ve always felt in West Virginia, studying some issues that might be politically volatile, but I have felt nothing but support from my department, college and university during all these initiatives,” Schulenberg said.
Not only has he felt a great amount of support from the university, but from the students as well. Schulenberg said he is grateful for the opportunities that he has had from being in the classrooms here at the university and the conversations that have sparked.
“What I’ve always loved about Marshall from the first second I got here is a real intellectual curiosity that’s less concerned with grades,” Schulenberg said. “So, it’s a sense of gratitude of even having the opportunity to be in the classroom. I’ve enjoyed where the conversations have gone. It hasn’t been just about all these guardrails and barriers we put to make sure learnings happening, but real, just honest, interested, curious intellectual conversations.”
Soleil Woolard can be contacted at [email protected].
